Take Me To Tomorrow
by esompthin
Summary: YouTuber AU! Alfred is a famous YouTuber who forces his roommate, Arthur, to be in his videos with him. How will they deal with videos, shippers, and being separated? I hope you know, because I don't. Usuk, multichapter. Fluff, with some anguish, and a lil bit of poetry thrown in there.
1. Chapter 1

Yo, I'll post the next chapter tomorrow-ish or sompthin, but here, have a crappy poem.

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><p><strong><em>.<em>**

**_._**

_Watch Me_

_You walk away._

_You do not turn._

_Our eyes never meet;_

_It feels like defeat._

_If you looked,_

_If our gaze locked,_

_What would I see?_

_Would they be filled with hate?_

_Is it me you'd mock?_

_Or, perhaps pity._

_Is that how you see me?_

_You doubt my strength._

_I see._

_Fine, then._

_Why don't you turn around,_

_And watch me._

_Watch me strive._

_Watch me thrive._

_Watch me survive._

_Without you, I am free;_

_Free from your constricting chains._

_Finally I can be me._

_Finally you're out of my mind._

_I can leave you behind;_

_No worries._

_Without me you are alone;_

_Thrown out of your zone._

_Of comfort, I don't need._

_Not from you._

_Just me._

_Watch me._

_Watch me as I spread my wings._

_Watch me as I fly._

_Shoot through the sky._

_Never see me cry._

_Watch me through it all._

_Watch me as I reject your call._

_Watch me as I stand tall._

_But first,_

_Please…_

_Don't watch me fall._


	2. Chapter 2

Did you know if you look in the dictionary 'tomorrow-ish' is a synonym for 'a week later'?

True story.

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><p><em>Wait for someone who tells strangers about you.<em>

"Hey, y'all! It's Alfred and I am most certainly not dead!" An obnoxious voice practically shouts to the camera. The dirty blond, just out of college, was excited to make another video for his YouTube page. "I know it's been awhile since I last posted something here." The boy looks meekly into the camera and mumbles something about school work and finals, "The last thing I posted was that stupid documentary for class. But, I am back and ready for business!"

"As you can see," Alfred continues, gesturing to the view behind him, a large window with a view of the city's skyline, cloudy with an oncoming storm, hidden only by thin curtains. "I am not in my old college dorm room. I, being a responsible adult, am renting a new apartment for me to live in!"

He looks extremely proud, downright giddy, at the announcement, "And." Al continues, lowering his voice to a secretive manner, "I'm not alone."

Alfred then makes a gesture to the other boy standing off-camera, who promptly shakes his head. Al can't help but smile, and stage-whisper, "That was your cue!"

"I don't want to be in your bloody videos." The distinctly English accent hisses at his flatmate.

Al pouts, "Its not like they don't know you already." He says, referring to his subscribers. "They kept asking for 'more Arty!'"

The Brit's face flushes, "H-how do they know me, per say?"

Alfred glances from the camera to the Brit, who still refuses to show his face, "Well, I talk about you. And I've shown them pictures and stuff. I mean, most of them follow my Insta and twitter, so they know who you are. I mean, they've known you for years now. This is just the first time they'll actually see a video of you awake."

Arthur looks like he's about to scream. Probably something along the lines of 'what do you mean _awake_?' But Alfred cut him off, holding up a finger.

"Just this one video, and then you don't have to be in any others. Promise."

Arthur shakes his head and stares doubtfully at his friend. Alfred puts on his best puppy dog face and eventually the Brit crosses the room and sits down next to Alfred on the couch, in front of the camera.

"Everybody, this is the infamous Arthur Kirkland: painter, poet, and roommate." Alfred says, his hands moving like crazy as always. When Arthur first met Alfred, it bothered him that the other boy couldn't talk without signing, but now Arthur finds himself distracted by those hands, watching them even if he doesn't know what the hand movements mean. "I was trying to find another word for _roommate_ that started with a 'P', but all I could think of was _partner_."

Arthur nearly chokes on his spit. He cleared his throat awkwardly and mutters into his fist, "Well, they've seen me, so now I'm leaving."

As Arthur starts to stand up, Alfred quickly grabs the other boy's arm and pulls him back down. He smiles into the camera saying, "Not so fast." He gestures to the 'audience' saying, "They've only just met you. Let them get to know you first, before you start abandoning them."

"Don't make me sound selfish!" Arthur hisses, reluctantly shifting so he was facing the camera better. "What do they want to know?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Alfred winks and pulls out his phone, "Here's the questions they've asked me on twitter about you."

Arthur stares at the other boy as he starts to read off questions. One by one, he answers them to the best of his ability. Alfred ads his own bits of information, opinions, and stories as they go.

"Major?"

"Fine Arts and English."

"Where in the world would you visit?"

"I don't like traveling."

"You're just high-maintenance. How'd we meet?"

"I met Alfred through a good friend of mine."

"Yeah, so I was on the swim team freshman year of high school. This guy named Francis was on the team with me. He's Arty's age: a year older than me. Anyway, Matty and I didn't have a whole lot of friends at first. Shocking. I know. And so Francis was trying to, like, help us out a bit? And so he introduced me to this stick in the mud." While Al talks his hands are forming words of a whole different language, one that Arthur would never understand.

"We didn't actually become good friends until college when we got paired as roommates. I guess the college decided that we'd be together, since we went to the same high school." Arthur felt kind of odd talking to people that he'd never real see. They could be nonexistent for all he knows. But Alfred's a natural at it, and he's been making videos since he was in middle school.

Al reads one of the questions and laughs. Not a loud laugh, like he usually does. Or even a long laugh. Just a short huff of air with a whimsical smile.

"What?" Arthur leans close to the other to see the screen.

Al holds the phone against his chest, so the other can't see, while saying, "They're asking if you're single. From what I've shown them, they like what they see."

Arthur rolls his eyes and leans away. He practically glares at the camera as he says, "Oh, I'm far to busy dealing with this reject to worry about a _relationship_."

Alfred hums noncommittally while he searches for another question. "Sexuality?"

"I'm not answering that on the first video." If Arthur's proud that his voice didn't crack or waver in any way, you wouldn't be able to tell by his expression. He stares at Alfred who just nods and continues looking.

Without looking up form his phone, Al smiles and says, "Does that mean there'll be another video?"

Arthur rolls his eyes and takes a long sigh, "Well, considering that we live together, and you make videos _all the bloody time_... then yes. I suppose there will be."

Alfred's smile could light up the small room. He stares at Arthur, his twitter feed forgotten and says in a serious voice, "Arthur Kirkland... We've known each other for quite a while now... and I was wondering, well, hoping actually..."

"What the hell are you doing." Arthur didn't so much as ask a question, as he did point accuse the other of blasphemy.

Alfred continues, like he didn't hear the other speak, "Would you be my channel's co-star?"

Arthur gets up saying, "Oh my god. Oh my god."

Alfred falls on the couch, laying where the other boy just was, "Is that a yes?"

"I'm not making videos."

"Then I'll make them. You just have to sit there and look pretty."

Arthur grabs his coat off his bed and says, "I'm getting us lunch."

He hurries out the door so fast Alfred barley has enough time to call, "Is that a yes?"

After a moment, his gaze shifts to the blinking red light of the camera. With a smile he says to his audience, "That's totally a yes."


	3. Chapter 3

How mad will the people waiting for an update for A Heated Story be when they realize I've started a-whole-nother fic? Should I find a hiding spot yet?

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><p><em>Wait for someone who's always there for you.<em>

The next video Alfred makes in his new apartment doesn't go as he planned it would. He starts out cheery, talking about his family and how they pestered him about living alone with Arthur. His face is bright red as he repeats what Matthew signed him.

"He's expecting way too much to come from this." Al finishes with a laugh. Arthur had left to get some lunch, so the American felt perfectly comfortable to talk about this. "I dunno guys. I guess I am too, actually. You have no idea how surprised I was when he said he'd stay with me. I-in the apartment, I mean."

He shifts on the little couch that sat in front of the large window. He's contemplating what to say next; not worried about wasting time on camera, since he can just edit out the dead air later. He sits up straighter as he remembers some of the comments on his last video. "Oh, yeah! Y'all don't know what my apartment looks like. I guess all you can really see if the view. Well let me tell you, this place is top-notch quality. I got a deal on this bachelor pad." He winks at the camera and continues, "I mean it is so-"

"Do you always lie to your viewers?" A voice cuts him off.

The color from Alfred's face drains as he looks past the camera to the man entering the door. Arthur's shaking drops of rain from his shaggy blond hair as he takes off his shoes.

"Only on occasion." Al replies, his hands dropping into his lap.

Arthur tsks and quickly walks behind the couch, saying, "I leave you for ten minutes and you're being _untrustworthy_ to the people who _worship _you?"

The fangirls watching the video later, when its posted, would scoff at the idea of worship; while they make gifs of Arthur leaning against the couch and do pointless things like _write fanfiction_ about the people they'd never meet.

Al looks at the other boy over his shoulder, their faces inches apart as he says, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Arthur shakes his head and looks at the camera and says, "Don't let him fool you. This place is shit."

By Alfred's expression, you'd think he takes personal offense to that.

He probably does.

Arthur continues, saying, "This isn't an apartment. It's a generous walk-in closet." He walks around the couch muttering, "Why don't I just show you."

"Arty don't!"

Arthur unhooks the camera from the tripod and holds it in his hands, turning away from the couch to show the rest of their tiny apartment. "Look at this bollocks. It's just _a room_."

Their apartment is, in fact, just a room. On one side is Arthur's bed, sheets tucked in and a small bookshelf on the wall. On the other side is Alfred's bed, hidden somewhere under a pile of clothes and fast food wrappers. Posters cover Al's wall and a desk is crammed against the wall and Al's bed, on it sits a computer and piles of paper. On the left near their "front door" is another door that leads to a small bathroom.

"Honestly, I don't know why Alfred got this dump." Arthur says, turning the camera to face the dirty blond. "It doesn't even have a kitchen."

"But look at the view!" Alfred says, pulling back the curtains to show the skyline of New York, which, at the moment, is dark and cloudy with threats of an oncoming storm. Water that escaped through the cracks in the sky drizzle lazily to the streets below.

"Oh, you're right. It's beautiful." Arthur deadpans. Alfred's shoulders slump and he mutters about being a poor just-finished-college-adult and it was the best he could find.

"Tbh, the most depressing part about all this is that we don't have a TV." Al says after a moment of looking out the window.

"Tbh," Arthur replies, faking an American accent, "the most depressing part about all this is that you just said tbh."

After that video, Arthur swore it to be his duty to be in the room whenever Alfred taped anything. To 'make sure he wasn't trying to pull anyone's leg.'

Sometimes the Brit sat on his bed. Sometimes he sat on the couch, right next to Alfred; adding comments while he read or wrote. Regardless, whenever Arthur was around, Alfred avoided a specific topic and all his fangirls knew it.

But it was like holding your breath; eventually you'll have to suck in a gulp of air and the inevitable will rule.

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><p>All of Alfred's subscribers have seen The Video. It was posted years ago, and the hype of it is over. The fans hardly reference it anymore. But as millions of subscribers –millions of fangirls- sit down to watch the latest video Alfred posted, months after moving in, all of them thought of The Video.<p>

Al's doing a Q n' A, and Arthur, being the stubborn child he is, is sitting next to him on their couch, reading a book.

"When was your last relationship?" Alfred reads off the question. If you think the fangirls didn't make a gif of Arthur's expression, you're dead wrong. Al cocks his head, only looking slightly conflicted as he answered casually, "I haven't dated anyone since my senior year of high school."

Arthur couldn't help but quip, turning the page in false disinterest, "Anyone I know?"

Alfred shifts on the couch, his eyes trailing off to the other side of the room, "No, I don't think so. They were a junior. So they would've been a sophomore when you were a senior."

Arthur lowers his book and stares at the other boy. A small smile graced his lips in amusement, "Alfred F. Jones." He says with just a hint of joy in his voice, "Are you lying to your viewers again?"

"No!" Al says quickly, his eyes wide.

Arthur's eyebrow quirks up, "What's her name?"

Alfred visibly flinches, "Uh, Alex."

"Alex and Alfred." Arthur testes it out. He hums and continues to prod, "Was it short for Alexis or Alexandria? Alexandria is far prettier of a name. Wait._ Please_ don't tell me it was Alexis Winter?"

"No! No, God no!" Alfred shudders at that.

Arthur smiles slightly at that. "Well then, who was this Alex girl?"

Alfred shifts in his seat, his eyes looking everywhere but Arthur as he says slowly, "I… really don't think… I mean…"

Before he can create an actual sentence, his phone rings. He jumps up, thankful for the distraction, and scurries to his cell phone. As he pulls it close to his ear and says a cheery, "Hello?" he sees Arthur eye him curiously. Feeling the Brit's gaze bore into the side of his head, he turns his back and starts to pace the small room.

"Alfred F. Jones?" A female on the other side of the call asks.

Alfred immediately straightens his back, and says in a professional tone, "This is he. How can I help you?"

"I'm with the NeWorld Wildlife Foundation." The woman says, not missing a beat. "We understand you're fairly popular on social media and have a decent knowledge of telecommunications."

_Decent_. Alfred thinks. _Not like it's my college degree or anything._ "Yes, that's right."

"We would like to offer you a position in our newest documentary we will be filming." The woman continues.

Alfred's professionalism falters as he says, "Wait. What. Really?"

"Yes." She sounds bored; like she didn't want to be having this conversation. She's probably hoping for someone less-Alfred-y to be on the other end of the phone. Probs not a subscriber.

"What position? What's the documentary about?"

"You would be the host." Her bitterness is not lost on Alfred, but he didn't seem to care much as he glances at Arthur, who shoots him a confused look. "The documentary will be about the wildlife of the Outback. You would be filming onsite for thirty days."

"H-host? Awesome! Yeah, okay! I'll do it! I'd love to!" He's getting more and more excited by the minute, his voice rising to a high-pitched squeal. "When do I start?"

"You have two days to pack. We will send someone to come and pick you up for your flight. May we have your address?"

Alfred tells her and then the lady says, "Thank you for your cooperation. We'll be in touch." The American doesn't get the chance to say bye as he hears the line go dead. He turns excitedly to Arthur, who's staring at him expectantly.

"Did she say yes to the dress?" Arthur asks.

Alfred ignores him and cheers, "I've got me a gig! I'm going to be the host, the narrator of some documentary!"  
>Arthur smiles and nods, "Good for you. When is it?"<p>

"In two days. They said they'd come pick me up to take me to the airport."

The Brit bolts up then, he sucks in a deep breath through his nose as he asks, "Airport? Where are you going?"

Alfred's smile is wide enough to break his face, "The Outback!"

Arthur's smile falls completely, "Australia?!"

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><p>.<p>

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Tell me what ya think!


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